TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The International Association Football Federation (FIFA) has frozen funding for the Indonesian football association or PSSI as a punishment for refusing entry to the Israeli team for the U20 World Cup, which has subsequently led to the stripping of Indonesia's hosting rights for the tournament.

Commenting on the sanction, PSSI chairman Erick Thohir said that this is a lesson to learn from the Indonesian football industry.

In a press release on April 6, he said he was relieved that "Indonesia can avoid more severe sanctions, which is the exclusion of world football."

Erick said that with this light sanction, Indonesia can still compete in the 2023 SEA Games.

"With this sanction, we are not given a red card, but a yellow card. So we can still play and compete in the SEA Games at the end of this month."

After Indonesia lost its rights to host the U20 World Cup, Erick Thohir met with FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Paris where they discussed several important points related to the progress of Indonesian football.

FIFA stripped Indonesia's rights to host the U20 World Cup Tournament following protests and rejection of the Israeli national team. Rejection was made by a number of political parties such as PDIP and PKS. Two governors from PDIP—Java Tengah's Ganjar Pranowo and Bali's Wayan Koster—even blatantly refused to allow the Israeli team from competing in their province.

M Julnis Firmansyah

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